Elijah tried to be somewhere else in his mind. Anywhere else. But he couldn't do it. Even trying to hold the idea of imagining he was somewhere else was a stuttering and disjointed struggle. The pain was too much. Too intense. Too absorbing. He should have been dead a long time ago. Instead of walling… Continue reading Freerider
Tag: Antimatter
Voice of a Stranger
Burkhart squirmed as he watched the screens. He couldn't stop rubbing his nose, even though it didn't itch. "Get it over with," said a voice very near his ear. It came from the stranger looking over Burkhart's shoulder, also watching the screens with a grim seriousness. The screens were security monitors. They showed live feeds… Continue reading Voice of a Stranger
Chance Encounter
He appeared from the desert like a mirage, as conspicuous as a rain cloud. He wore a Colonial officer's uniform, but he was no officer. Didn't have the swagger. Lyric knew; she'd been an officer herself not so long ago. "You lost?" She stood slowly, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of one… Continue reading Chance Encounter
A Little Luck (and a Lot of Violence)
It was worse than she'd feared. Denver had more wires and tubes of pumping fluid running through him than her starship engine. But there was no time to be cautious; a whole legion would be descending from their orbital dropships on the next pass. Whatever Phia was going to do, she had to be gone… Continue reading A Little Luck (and a Lot of Violence)
Some Bullshit About Dogs
"They're descended from dogs. You know that?" said Kieran. Eva was incredulous, and she didn't try to hide it. A white bandana covered her nose and mouth from the wind and dust, but her eyes did the talking. Kieran was a bullshitter through and through, and a motormouth to boot. Eva had learned that if… Continue reading Some Bullshit About Dogs
Return of the Maleficarum
As a young man, Rich Speyer thought he'd seen the last of the Maleficarum. At the time, he commanded the special joint task force responsible for the Sweep—the rounding up of the dissenters, the objectionists, the pacifists, the skulking members of the anti-party-party, and shuttling them off world to take their deviant ideas to the stars.… Continue reading Return of the Maleficarum
Summa
XIA-97 was broken. She was the only android aboard the Borealis Rouge, all its other passengers being FABs—Flesh And Blood—and therefore locked in their hibernation routines for another several kiloyears. FABs, useless as ever. And with the nature of her damage being neural—software, as they used to say—she could not diagnose herself; it was a fundamental… Continue reading Summa
The Hedron
When the door blew off its hinges it glanced off of Gartner's shoulder and sent him twisting through the air. The Shadows were inside the Temple. They crossed the chasm and shredded Gartner into wet leathery ribbons the color of plum wine before he hit the floor. Captain Erra didn't need the quantum mind of… Continue reading The Hedron
Escaping the Nonpareil
Sparks came down like molten rain. Drea ran through the neon smoke and darkness, clawing at the air in front of her. Sometimes she caught stray cables hanging like cobwebs, or severed ducts that breathed hot steam onto her face, but mostly she only swatted uselessly at the emptiness. The Nonpareil was bleeding to death, but… Continue reading Escaping the Nonpareil
Spacejacked
The Phorcys 72-72 was unremarkable for a passenger spaceliner as far as most people could tell. However, a handful of engineers at Beryl Manufacturing could point out that it was the only commercial spaceliner with a cargo hold that had a dedicated pressurization system and seals. The design was a marketing tactic that failed to… Continue reading Spacejacked
Warmup Pages 